Valdez on injured list, Santander updates ankle and more

The Orioles have placed reliever César Valdez on the 10-day injured list with a strained muscle in his lower back and recalled reliever Travis Lakins Sr. from Triple-A Norfolk.

Valdez lost his closer's job and is carrying a 5.74 ERA and 1.650 WHIP in 25 appearances and 26 2/3 innings. He surrendered two more runs yesterday in the eighth inning and has allowed six runs and 11 hits this month in only seven innings.

The slump has been extensive, with Valdez registering a 1.42 ERA and 1.105 WHIP in 11 April games and an 11.57 ERA and 2.429 WHIP in nine May appearances.

Valdez has converted eight of 12 save opportunities.

Lakins is 1-4 with a 6.75 ERA and 1.600 WHIP in 21 appearances and keeps riding the Triple-A shuttle, including calls as the 27th man in doubleheaders.

Lakins worked 1 1/3 innings two days ago with Norfolk.

Orioles manager Brandon Hyde said this afternoon that the club isn't considering putting outfielders Anthony Santander or Austin Hays on the injured list as they fight through discomfort in their ankle and hamstring, respectively.

"Not right now," Hyde said.

Santander is confident that he'll avoid a return trip, though he appeared to be laboring a bit running up the first base line in yesterday's game.

The ankle hasn't fully healed after he sprained it on April 20 in Miami while avoiding a pickoff attempt at first base. But Santander said this afternoon that he's noticed some recent improvement.

"The first week that I came back it was feeling good, no issues there, but as I started playing on an everyday basis, like the second week it came back a little bit more painful," he said via interpreter Ramón Alarcón. "Thankfully, lately it's been getting better because I've been getting treatment on it and taking medicine."

So, he can stay off the IL?

"Yes, definitely," he replied. "I've been taking my medicine, I take it as part of the treatment. Thankfully, no pain the past few days."

Asked about any restrictions, such as trying to beat out a ground ball, Santander suggested that it's more of a mental issue.

"I think subconsciously when I know it's right at the defender, I'm going a little bit slower, when I know it's between defenders, I'm still trying to go at 100 percent at the best that I can," he said.

The natural step is to make a connection between the injury and a slump that's left Santander with five hits in 40 at-bats over the past 11 games, with one walk and 14 strikeouts. Last summer's Most Valuable Oriole has hit one home run since May 22.

"You know how the legs are basically the base of a good hitting approach," he said. "Lately what I've been trying to do is not put that in my mind, trying to get that away from my mind and my thoughts and just try to have good at-bats, and hopefully my ankle cooperates and allows me to help out my team."

Rest would benefit Santander, but he wants to stay in the lineup. So does Hays. The competitive side pushing to play.

Santander is on the bench tonight, but Hays is starting in left field.

"Definitely, especially now there's so many games left and I want to play as many games as possible to help my team," Santander said.

Said Hyde: "We just want to get him off his feet as much as possible. He's a little bit sore and just want to give him a rest today.

"I give those guys credit. They want to be in the lineup, they're asking to be in the lineup. It's obvious that they're playing with a little something, which a lot of guys are right now, too. You don't play every day for months and ... nobody feels 100 percent right now, but those guys want to be in the lineup and I'm trying to manage it the best that I can.

"I want to see Anthony at his best and he's making an effort to be that way. It's just right now he's a little bit sore, it does affect him. He comes in super early to treat, he's here after the game late to treat it. I think there's certain times throughout the game that it possibly bites him a little bit and that's when you kind of see, you can tell that it's tender, you can tell that he's sore. But he's trying to fight through this right now and I'm trying to keep him off the field as much as I can just to try to let it ... I just want him to feel good on the field."

And get back to being productive at the plate.

"It's your lower half and so, yeah, if your ankle's bothering you a little bit and you go to swing the bat aggressively, it can grab on you a little bit," Hyde said. "I don't think he's feeling the best he's ever felt in the box."

Meanwhile, tonight marks the first game with umpires enforcing the rule against pitchers using a sticky substance. They can be inspected during an inning and in between.

"I have no idea what it's going to look like, to be honest with you," Hyde said.

"You're going to see umpires checking bullpen guys coming off the field, you're going to see random starting pitcher checks, so none of us have seen anything like this before and we'll see how it goes."

The manager can suggest to the umpires that they inspect a pitcher if there's a suspicion.

"I think if I saw something that was pretty blatant and pretty obvious, I probably would say something," Hyde said. "You notice things all the time but this is a little different. But zero times have I ever gone and said anything.

"I think a lot of guys are going to have to adjust and are going to continue to adjust what they're using to get a grip on the ball to command it, and how guys react to that, I have no idea."

The Orioles received another memo last night to provide more clarity, and Hyde said the league has been very clear and thorough. He was going to meet again with his pitchers after batting practice.

"I'm looking forward to a level playing field," he said.

"It's pretty clear now what they expect."